Surgical manipulation of joints and bones requires efficient and accurate instruments adaptable to an individual patient. Such surgeries directly affect the alignment of the patient's bones and the function of related joints which, in turn, impact the patient's pain, range of motion, ambulation and more. Surgical instruments have been developed to assist surgeons in performing orthopedic surgeries, such as the reconstruction of fractured bones, the preparation of bones and the implantation of total joint prostheses. These surgeries involve delicate procedures that are necessary to enable patients to move properly and without pain. The accuracy of surgical cuts to the patient's bones is important in assuring proper bone alignment and the best possible fit and alignment of any implanted prostheses. Moreover, it is important to the success of the operation that the number of surgical manipulations be reduced to shorten surgical time, prevent blood loss or infection, reduce anesthesia and eliminate further violation or manipulation of soft tissue or bone.
A typical orthopedic surgical instrument used for resectioning joint surfaces during knee surgery involves mounting a cutting fixture to a patient's femur to determine where to make cuts to the femur and/or adjacent tibia. These devices provide surgical references used for cutting the distal end of a femur and/or the proximal end of an adjacent tibia to create a surface to implant a knee prosthesis. However, these instruments typically have limited adaptability to the patient's anatomy and require significant skill by multiple individuals to perform the proper cuts. Furthermore, such instruments also involve complex parts difficult for one person to manipulate, particularly under time restricted surgical conditions. As with any surgery, the amount of time a patient remains in an orthopedic surgery impacts the patient's safety, recovery and medical expenses.
Another typical surgical instrument used in orthopedic surgery involves a rod insertable into the medullary cavity of a bone. These rods are driven into the medullary cavity and used to support a cutting fixture to determine the position and angle of cuts to the bone. However, these rods are unable to self-align within the femur to obtain the optimum alignment to the patient's skeletal structure. Intermedullary rods have been developed that are capable of expanding into the surrounding bone to align and fix the bone. However, these devices fail to conform to the internal dimensions of the medullary cavity, optimize alignment within the bone or provide a single surgical reference point capable of supporting a cutting fixture alignable to the patient for performing multiple orthopedic surgical procedures.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a surgical instrument which would offer relatively high accuracy while providing adjustability to the individual patient. Preferably, the instrument would be capable of performing multiple surgical manipulations based on a single reference point to the patient to enhance accuracy and repeatability. It would be further preferable to provide an instrument that performs multiple functions based on a single fixed support thereby eliminating the need for additional procedures and reducing surgical time, preventing blood loss or infection, reducing anesthesia and eliminating further violation or manipulation of soft tissue or bone. It would be more desirable if the instrument involved minimum complexity so that it can be easily manipulated and implemented. It would also be more desirable to reduce the number of instruments and procedural steps necessary to perform such surgical manipulations.